Disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile sexually abused at least 22 pupils and one visitor at a school for emotionally disturbed girls in the 1970s, police say.

Disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile. Credit: PA Wire

Surrey Police said Savile was given "unrestricted and largely unsupervised" access to Duncroft School in Staines, Surrey, which he visited 16 times between 1974 and 1979 - even staying overnight on two occasions.

Teenage girls at the school were the victims of 46 offences of sexual abuse by the disgraced entertainer, the force's report found.

The attacks occurred in vehicles taken to the school by Savile and in rooms including the principal's office, dining room, common room, kitchen, TV room and a bedroom of the intensive care unit.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced in December last year that no charges would be brought against former staff members following an investigation into whether anyone was complicit in the abuse.

Savile, who died in 2011 aged 81, was a former BBC DJ and presenter and is now known to have been one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.